Château de Rayne Vigneau

The estate

The estate was the Vigneau when the brokers ranked it in 1855. The other half of the name came from Catherine de Pontac, Madame de Rayne, who bought it in 1834, and the trade books followed her: in 1845 William Franck’s Traité sur les vins du Médoc listed the Baronne de Reyne at the cru du Vigneau in Bommes, at 35 to 50 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and by 1853 the proprietor was Gabriel de Pontac. At the Paris exhibition of 1867 the wine won a gold medal. In the early 20th century the Vicomte François de Roton, an amateur geologist, gathered up the stones the plow kept turning up and opened a museum of them on the estate: agate, amethyst, onyx, sapphire, jasper, opal and rock crystal, carried down from the Pyrenees in the gravel. The Mestrezat company took over in 1971 and Crédit Agricole Grands Crus in 2004; in November 2015 the Trésor du Patrimoine group bought a majority holding, Crédit Agricole keeping a minority.

The 84 hectares lie in 1 piece and rise to about 75 meters, planted 74% Sémillon, 24% Sauvignon Blanc and 2% Muscadelle. The grapes are picked by hand in 4 to 8 passes, the yield runs to 10 to 15 hectoliters a hectare depending on the year, and the wine ferments in barrel. Madame de Rayne is the second wine, Clos l’Abeilley a parcel selection and Le Sec de Rayne Vigneau the dry white. The estate holds Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value, the French state’s environmental certification for farms), level 3, and the château, its park and its buildings were listed as historic monuments on April 19, 2004.

At a glance

Appellation

Sauternes

Commune

Bommes

Classification

Premier Cru Classé 1855, ranked as Vigneau

Owner

Trésor du Patrimoine, majority holding since November 2015

Vineyard

84 hectares in 1 piece, rising to about 75 meters

Ground

Gravel over sand, carrying agate, amethyst, onyx, sapphire, jasper, opal and rock crystal

Grapes

Sémillon 74%, Sauvignon Blanc 24%, Muscadelle 2%

Farming

Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3

Cellar

Picked by hand in 4 to 8 passes; 10 to 15 hectoliters a hectare; fermented in barrel

Wines

Château de Rayne Vigneau; Madame de Rayne; Clos l’Abeilley; Le Sec de Rayne Vigneau, dry

The house

Château, park and buildings listed as historic monuments on April 19, 2004

Sources: Château de Rayne Vigneau, the estate · Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, Château de Rayne Vigneau · Crédit Agricole, Trésor du Patrimoine buys a majority stake in Château de Rayne Vigneau · INAO, cahier des charges Sauternes